A Christmas Promise (23 page)

The banshee wail of the air-raid siren, low at first, began to infiltrate every nook and cranny of the house, and Barney’s first instinct was to run for the cellar door. Then he heard Alice’s cry and remembered that she was upstairs.

‘I’m coming, Alice. Don’t cry, Barney’ll save yer.’ Now Barney knew exactly how Captain America felt when he went to save some stranded victim. He didn’t have a magic boomerang that would do wonderful things to save the lost and frightened – like Alice – but he did have a bar of chocolate that would do the trick and calm her down. But as he reached the top of the stairs the whole house seemed to tremor as a huge boom and blast threw him to the floor.

‘It’s OK, Alice,’ Barney called when Alice’s terrified wail grew more shrill, ‘Barney’s here.’ He knew that if he could just clamber to her cot in the dark and get her downstairs, they just might stand a chance.

Olive’s eyes bulged and she had a sudden inability to blink when she held on to Archie’s hand as he pulled her along behind him towards the relative safety of a shop doorway. In her haste, she managed to look up to the blackened skies that now showed signs of the crisscrossed lights given off by the ack-ack gunners scouring the hazy night sky.

A suppressed scream was only a heartbeat away. She needed to be back home. Barney had never been left alone before. Alice would be terrified.

‘I promise, when this is all over, I am going to have a serious chat with Sally, and urge her in the strongest possible way to have Alice evacuated.’

‘I know, Olive,’ Archie answered. ‘And I saw Barney was so happy in the countryside, it was wrong of me to bring him back to this.’ He suddenly ducked and held Olive close when another blast went off close by.

Shaking now, Olive cried, ‘It was so wrong of me to expect a fifteen-year-old boy to look after a young child – I feel so bad now, Archie.’

Archie gently shushed her and held her closer.

‘We’ll make a run for it shortly. Are you all right, Olive?’ His voice was full of loving concern. Olive nodded but didn’t say anything and Archie could tell she was shaking with fear and not just the cold.

A few moments later, they headed to the top road, before the turning that would lead them to the Row, the heat of the scorching buildings enveloped them as windows shattered and the loud splintering of burning wood could clearly be heard.

‘Do you think Article Row has been hit?’ Olive managed breathlessly as they ran towards home. But the faster they tried to get there the more hampered their journey. Falling masonry was as much of a danger as the bomb blasts.

‘I don’t know,’ he shouted over the loud bell of a fire engine racing towards the worst hit. Archie could already see the flames licking the night sky and, still holding Olive’s hand, he darted in and out of falling incendiaries, making sure that Olive was safely at his side. Neither of them was new to this kind of situation, but what they hadn’t experienced before was the sensation of feeling irresponsible enough to leave a fifteen-year-old boy alone, in charge of a three-and-a-half-year-old child, in the middle of an air raid.

‘I will never forgive myself if anything has happened to them,’ Olive cried, only just keeping up with Archie’s long strides.

‘They will be fine,’ Archie called over his shoulder. ‘Barney is a sensible lad; he’ll head straight down to the cellar and take Alice with him.’

‘Are you sure, Archie?’ Olive cried again, ducking as the incendiary bombs fell all around her and the acrid smell of burning assaulted her senses. The crackle and bang of exploding shells almost burst her eardrums. She held in the small squeals of fear as best she could, and trusted Archie to get them both back to the house and the children.

Quickly, he grabbed Olive’s hand tighter and dragged her into the doorway of a blacked-out shop, just as the roof of a nearby building came crashing down around them, and this time Olive couldn’t prevent the small scream of terror.

‘Oh, Archie, are we ever going to get back to them in time?’

‘Sally! Sally, are you OK?’ Audrey dropped to her knees only a split second after Sally, who had been hit on the head by falling bricks. Dazed but still conscious, Sally struggled to get to her feet but was stopped by Audrey being flung down almost on top of her.

‘That’s a gas main, I can tell the sound,’ Sally said breathlessly as the smoke was drawn deeper into her lungs, but Audrey didn’t answer. ‘I hope everybody’s OK back home.’ Another incendiary dropped close by and she had to jump up quickly and stamp it out with her shoe. Eventually, the flare was put out and she turned to see Audrey still lying in the same position. Sally’s heart jumped up to her throat and her piercing scream fractured the hellish night mist. For a moment, time stood still. She was a qualified, highly trained nurse, she was used to dealing with emergencies, and none was more urgent than this.

Crawling on all fours, Sally did not feel the jagged edges of demolished rubble piercing her knees as she edged her way towards Audrey, nor the splinters of glass as they embedded themselves into the palms of her hands. All she could see was Audrey’s motionless body sprawled half off the pavement and into the road.

‘Audrey! Audrey, speak to me! Are you all right?’ Sally took the weight of Audrey’s unresponsive body and pulled her onto the pavement where she slumped onto Sally’s legs and prevented her from moving. A man running towards her stopped when he heard her cries.

‘You all right there, gel?’ he enquired kindly as he dropped to one knee. Then in the red-shadowed glow of the burning buildings he lifted Audrey’s head.

‘Come on, gel,’ the man said quietly to Sally, ‘come outta there – there’s nothing you can do for her now.’

‘But I’m a nurse, I have to do something!’ Sally cried, her voice cracked with shock.

‘Be that as it may, gel, you ain’t God. Now come on out of there.’ He helped Sally to her feet and she could see he was right. Even though there wasn’t a single mark on Audrey’s lifeless face, Sally knew there was no hope.

‘C’mon, the shelter’s just over ’ere. You’ve got to get in there and save yourself.’

‘I can’t leave her!’ Sally knew she sounded almost hysterical. However, she had the sense to hold it together, just long enough to see for herself that Audrey was beyond her help.

‘She saved my life,’ Sally whimpered as shock took hold. ‘She threw herself on top of me and saved my life.’

‘Well, you just thank your lucky stars she was with you, gel, ’cause someone up there must be looking out for you.’ He looked to the skies and in an instant pulled Sally back on her feet.

But before Sally could even say thank you, the man was gone and she was alone with Audrey, who would never sing again at evensong or have a cup of tea and a sympathetic ear ready for those that needed it.

Barney had wrapped Alice securely in a woollen cot blanket and held her closely in his arms as explosions erupted all around them. His hands were shaking now as he tried to lift the latch on the cellar door.

‘It’s OK, little one.’ Barney gently stroked her hair as Alice whimpered with fear.

‘Barney, where’s Sally? I want Sally,’ the child cried, her eyes wide with terror. ‘Where’s Aunt Olive?’

‘They’ll be here soon,’ Barney said, trying to keep his tone calm so as not to frighten her any more than she already was. ‘Don’t you fret now. Barney won’t let anything happen to you.’

He dragged the cellar door open and was inside with the door shut even before he found the light switch, but, when he finally pressed the switch, the bulb didn’t light up the cellar steps the way it should have done and he realised the blast must have dislodged something. Gingerly now, Barney edged his feet to the rim of the concrete stairs, all the time holding on to the terrified whimpering child.

‘Ssh, Alice,’ he said gently. ‘When we get down there, I’ll tell you a story.’

‘I want Sally!’ The child wailed now, her cries getting louder, and for as much as Barney could feel the rising terror almost choke him, he knew he had to show her he was calm and capable. If he went to pieces now, poor Alice would remember it for the rest of her life. He’d be a laughing stock. He had to be calm. What would Captain America have done? He surely wouldn’t have cried like a baby because the light had gone out. But the further down into the cellar they went, the more Alice screamed, and who could blame her, he thought, feeling like a good scream himself.

‘You wait right there, you little monster.’

Barney’s jokey voice sounded shivery and he was surprised when Alice laughed and said, ‘Your voice has gone all funny!’

Barney resisted the urge to tell the child that what she was hearing was cold, stark fear. ‘I’ll just try and find the candle and the matches.’ He paused, before saying in a playful voice, ‘Have you hidden them? I bet you have.’

‘No, Barney,’ Alice said in her little voice, ‘I haven’t seen no candles today.’

‘If you’re hiding them … Oh, here they are … Now, let’s put a bit of light on the subject.’ He was saying anything that came into his head to try to drown out the sound of the falling bombs and the raging flames as buildings burned around them and the air was filled with the smell of scorching wood and plaster.

Turning into Article Row, all lit up like a huge bonfire night, Archie and Olive were horrified to see the roof of Archie’s house blazing in the night sky.

‘Oh, my word!’ Olive cried as her hands covered her mouth and eyes. She couldn’t bear the sight of everything Archie had worked so hard for going up in flames. All his memories of his first wife and his young son, taken too early, were wrapped up that house.

But standing in the freezing night air, the damp mist swirling around their faces and legs, did little to quell the flames. Already there was a fire crew on site, and both Archie and Olive set to work with nearby stirrup pumps and buckets of water. It wasn’t long before they knew that the house was beyond saving, but they had to help out, it wasn’t in the nature of either of them to leave it up to others. However, Archie was now worried about his future wife and her delicate condition. ‘Go and check on Barney and Alice. There is nothing else you can do here,’he told her.

‘Are you sure, Archie?’ Olive cried. ‘I don’t want to leave you here, alone.’

‘I’ll be fine, Olive. Go and see to the kids, they need you now.’ He gave her a brave smile that told her he would work something out. ‘Tell Barney I’ll be down shortly.’

‘I will, my love,’ Olive said, before she headed for her own house. Hurrying now, she realised she had been gone nearly three hours. Sally would be frantic.

‘Sally!’ Olive called as soon as she entered the dark hallway of number 13. The place was silent and she had never known it to be so cold. Shivering, Olive made her way along the hall towards the kitchen and the cellar.

‘Barney! Alice!’ Olive’s voice echoed around the house, and she was stricken with fear. She had been so stupid leaving them alone like this. What had she been thinking of? Just then she heard Barney’s voice and felt a sudden rush of relief.

‘Down here, Aunt Olive.’ His voice came clearly from the floor below, through the cellar door, and there was another voice mingled in with it: Alice crying softly into Barney’s shoulder.

‘Oh, thank God, are you all right?’ Olive called from the top of the stairs and both children called up that they were.

‘I think Alice needs changing, though. She’s had a bit of an accident.’

‘Don’t worry about that now, Barney. As long as you are both unhurt that’s the main thing.’

‘I want Sally,’ little Alice cried as Olive made her way down the steps.

‘I know, my darling.’ Olive picked her up and held her close and she felt the damp patch on Alice’s nightie. ‘Just as soon as the lights go on we’ll have you all nice and dry again.’

‘Is it bad out there?’ Barney asked, suddenly not so scared any more. ‘I didn’t get a chance to look out, I just got Alice and brought her down here.’

‘You did the right thing, Barney. You are a good boy and deserve that fishing trip.’

‘Where’s Pops?’ Barney asked, using the name he liked to call Archie, as the adoption had not come through yet and he didn’t want to tempt fate by counting his chickens. ‘And the chickens? They’ll stop laying!’

‘They might even lay more with the fright,’ Olive said, not caring right now. ‘Archie will be along shortly.’ She didn’t tell Barney that their house had been destroyed by incendiary bombs. It was quite ironic, Olive thought, as Archie was the chief fire officer for this street, but Hitler and his bombs didn’t give a fig about who was who, as long as they wrecked as much havoc as they could.

‘I should have gone to the doctor’s on my own,’ Olive said aloud even though she didn’t mean to.

Momentarily, Barney was terrified. All the people he knew who saw doctors had died.

‘Aunty Olive, are you all right?’ His voice was troubled. ‘Why did you go to see the doctor?’

Olive knew she had to be careful what she said here. She couldn’t tell Barney the real reason – that was scandalous and would give Nancy Black enough gossip to dine out on for a year.

‘I’m fine, sunshine,’ she said brightly, ‘just popping in with a message. Is Sally not home yet?’ Olive began to worry all over again and decided that the children must be moved to the countryside at the earliest possible hour.

‘She hasn’t come home yet,’ Barney said quietly.

Olive knew that he didn’t believe her lame excuse about why she was at the surgery, but she also knew she couldn’t possibly tell him the truth, so she said, ‘What it is, Barney, and I’m a bit embarrassed about this –’ her voice was hesitant – ‘I had to go and see him about my foot.’

‘Your foot, Aunt Olive?’ Barney was listening now.

‘Yes, I wanted to know if I had a verruca.’ It was the first thing that came into her mind.

‘A verruca?’ Barney said. ‘Why didn’t you ask Sally? She’d have told you.’

‘She’s been so busy lately I forgot all about it,’ Olive was astonished at the way the lie tripped off her tongue so easily.

His worry of her impending doom obviously dissipated, Barney said in a lighter tone, ‘I had one of those from going to the baths. They’re really painful.’ He puffed out his chest. ‘I had to have it burned away – right down to the root.’